ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — It is a fever no one in Western New York wants to cure: the Bills are going to the NFL playoffs after winning 10 games and fans are infected with excitement.
Not since 1999 has the team had a combination of 10 wins and a playoff spot, something that is a new experience for a whole generation of people who were either not born or too young to remember the Bills Super Bowl years.
"You have a good football team and you are looking around saying we have a chance against anybody we play. It is a pretty fun place to be," said Steve Tasker, former special teams player for the Bills from 1986-1997.
Families with newborns at Oishei Children's Hospital in Buffalo, celebrated the win with Bills cornerback, and one of the stars of the Bills-Steelers game, Tre'Davious White. White, who has two young children, surprised moms in the maternity ward and presented gifts as part of a partnership between the Bills and Fisher-Price in East Aurora.
"I always joke with a lot of people that when the Bills win, the sun shines in Buffalo on Monday," said White, who added that the fan reaction is inspiring to the whole team.
At the New Era store on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, fans lined up to buy a special hat celebrating the Bills success in getting into the playoffs on their own. "We are usually doing the math. Who needs to win and who needs to lose? And we got it! We can enjoy Christmas," said Jackey Deschamps from Hamburg.
New Era said it will have another version of a playoff hat for the Bills on Wednesday in the store.
7 Eyewitness News Reporter Ed Reilly has more about the excitement in the attached report.
